"No, seriously, I'm going to see." Mercy climbed to her feet and gazed at the irritable animal uncertainly. Its ears were back and it wore a most disagreeable expression.

"I swear, it sounds like Lindy's laugh," Kelli said. She demonstrated, giving a long series of donkey-like guffaws that sounded suspiciously close to Lindy's laughter.

By this time, the donkey appeared to be furious. It reared on its back legs and put its front hooves on the top of the fence, all the while braying like mad.

A squeamish sensation warned Mercy to be careful, but she took a few steps closer to the animals anyway.

"There is definitely something wrong with that donkey, Mercy. But I think you better stay away from it. It might bite you, or something," Felicity said.

Kelli made a scoffing noise. "Donkeys don't bite."

"They have teeth, don't they?" Felicity countered.

Mercy was aware of her friends bickering, but something seemed to draw her toward the animals. Just as she was within a few feet of the fence, she heard Felicity squeal and whirled around.

"Oh, my G.o.d!" Felicity was pointing toward the lake. She and Kelli were on their feet, so Mercy ran to see what had them so excited.

Felicity had both hands over her mouth and her skin had gone ashen.

Kelli pointed to something in the mud close to the water.

"Don't touch it!" Felicity warned.

"What is it?" Mercy asked when she got near enough to see. The girls were cl.u.s.tered around something gleaming just at the edge of the lake. Her heart nearly stopped when she got close enough to identify the shiny silver object. It was Lindy's charm bracelet half buried in the mud.

"Lindy would never go anywhere without that." Kelli reached in her pocket and drew out her cell phone. "I'm calling the sheriff's office."

Mercy's stomach squeezed with fear. What if someone really kidnapped them? What if they're dead? She felt a pang of remorse for all the anger and resentment she had held for so long. Now all she felt were fear and dread.

Within a few minutes they heard the scream of sirens. The sirens grew louder and they saw flashing lights as three patrol cars from the sheriff's department pulled into the field, Sheriff Ringold sprang from the first car as fast as a man of his size could manage. He ran to where the girls stood, his hand on his weapon.

"Where are the bodies?" he demanded.

"Bodies?" Kelli frowned at him. "I didn't say we found any bodies. I called in to report that we found Lindy Boyd's charm bracelet by the edge of the lake. If there are bodies, we didn't find them."

The Sheriff glowered down on her. And then his gaze shifted to Mercy. "You!" His p.r.o.nouncement made her shrink within herself. "How are you involved in this?"

She moistened her lips. "I was just here."

Felicity raised her hand, like a little girl in cla.s.s. "It was me. I saw it first."

"Yeah," Kelli added. "And when she about fell over, I came running up to see what it was."

His gaze shifted between the two girls and then back to Mercy. "And just where were you, young lady, while these two were finding the victim's bracelet?"

"Me? I was over there." She pointed to the fence.

"By that stupid-looking jacka.s.s?" His brows drew together in disbelief. "Are you interested in jacka.s.ses?"

"No, but...It was being very loud and I thought it might be hurt or something." She felt his bulging frog eyes boring into her.

He turned his gaze on the donkey. "It's not making any noise now. Are you sure about your statement?"

Felicia and Kelli began speaking at once, both a.s.suring him that the donkey had been making a lot of noise.

"Have you girls contaminated the crime scene?"

They exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"We didn't touch anything. I called you straightaway, Kelli said.

With one of his monstrous huge paws, he motioned for the girls to step back, while with the other, he gestured for one of the deputies to come forward. The sheriff ordered his man to gather the evidence. The deputy pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and used a long pair of tweezers to pick up the bracelet and place it in a plastic bag. The sheriff told him to rush it to the crime lab in a nearby city. The young deputy returned to his vehicle and climbed inside. He backed up to the road and took off again with his siren blaring.

The sheriff turned back to the girls. "You young ladies go on home now. I'll be talking to you again after we finish gathering evidence."

A shiver coiled down Mercy's spine. She clasped her arms around herself. Although it was a warm and sunny day, the sheriff's words chilled her. They're dead. They're really dead. She regretted all the less than kindly feelings she had held about them, although she had to acknowledge that Lindy was the major bully while Becca and Amy were her toadies. She had wished them gone, not dead. She had wanted them to stop making her life miserable. And now they were dead.

She helped Felicity fold her blanket and they gathered their trash to recycle. Mercy took one last look over her shoulder to where the sheriff and his men were combing the area looking for more evidence. She followed behind Kelli and Felicity, walking her bike toward the narrow road. The donkey brayed again, as though imploring them to come back. It no longer looked angry, but rather appeared to be frightened. "You'll be okay. Go on home to the farmer and he'll feed you."

She threw her leg over her bike and pedaled after Kelli and Felicity, dropping off when she reached her house. She replaced her bike under the car port and ran inside the house.

"Gran! Gran!" Then she remembered to light the purple candle. That seemed to help Gran to appear. The fragrance was appealing, although she was beginning to a.s.sociate it with her grandmother's absence. Mercy swiped her hand over the mirror's surface. "C'mon, Gran. Where are you?"

"Did it ever occur to you that Lavinia might be busy?" Alastair asked. "She might not always be at your beck and call."

"But she said she could always hear me." Mercy heard the whine in her own voice. She hated that. Drawing a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she squared her shoulders. "Yes, I suppose you're right. She might be tied up in something. I...I'll just do my homework and wait for her."

She tried to concentrate, but found her mind wandering. She kept picturing Lindy's bracelet, half-buried in the mud. What if Felicity hadn't spotted it?

She finished her homework and stuffed it in her book bag. Then she checked the mirror again, but there was no sign of Gran.

With a flash of determination, she decided to see if there had been any progress on the sheriff's investigation. She stifled a shudder when she wondered if he had found the girls...or what was left of them. I have to know for sure.

She shrugged into a sweater and went out to the carport. She mounted her bike and pulled out onto the roadway. Surely I can just take a peek. She retraced the route she had traveled that afternoon with her two best friends, only it was somewhat sinister at night. There were no cars out this late. All the townspeople appeared to be tucked into their snug homes...Everyone except Mercy. She supposed this was what witches did...poke around in the dead of night doing witchy business. Stirring their cauldrons...turning people into toads...An image of the sheriff's face burst into her brain...Toads indeed!

When she turned onto the dirt road leading to the lake, she could see the area cordoned off ahead. Bright lights had been set up to illuminate the section where the bracelet had been found.

She left her bike resting on its kickstand and crept a little closer. A boat on the water slowly trolled back and forth. A shiver wracked her body when she realized the officers on the boat were searching for bodies in the water. The image of lifeless forms being dragged from the belly of the lake filled her brain and roiled her stomach.

She stepped back into the darkness and fell back into the ditch. A surprised yelp escaped when she landed among the soft, gra.s.ses. A vision of snakes and other slimy things rose up to terrify her. She scrambled to her knees and groped her way to the road again. Her foot struck something solid. She reached down to find something smooth and shaped like a big metal ball or a half ball. As she turned it over she discovered it was Gran's graniteware egg bowl.

A rush of joy and fear washed through her. She was thrilled to find where she had banished it to, and somewhat fearful recalling Darynda's words. "Wherever you banished the bowl to, that's where you'll find the others."

"But where?" she said aloud. "It's just me and that dumb old donkey...and...and..." She fell back onto her rear, clutching her grandmother's egg bowl. "Oh, noooo..." she wailed.

Suddenly the truth came flooding into her consciousness. It was right there in front of her all along, plain as day. Plain as the nose on my face...Plain as the donkey braying out insults just as Lindy had when she was a girl. Plain as the goose, squawking up a storm, just as Becca had in her human form...And poor little Amy, clucking along as a complete chicken in real life.

What have I done? Some sort of combination transformation and banishing spell had converted three mean girls into equally annoying farm animals. Oh, my...

Mercy climbed on her bike and pedaled home as fast as she could, clutching the egg bowl.

CHAPTER TEN.

Mercy was digging in her locker when Greg came up behind her. "Hey!" he greeted her and she jumped. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He placed his hand over the one she had gripping the metal door.

She tried to control the flutter in her chest. She thought it was because he startled her...Maybe not.

She smiled and tried to act normal. As normal as any other young witch-in-training who just discovered she had changed her three sworn enemies into animals. Yeah. Like that.

"Hi, Greg." Her voice came out a whisper.

"Hi," he dropped his voice to her level. "You didn't forget about our date tonight, did you?"

"No, of course not. How could I forget?" Oh, my G.o.d! I forgot!

"Just making sure. So much has gone down this past week, I just thought...I mean..."

She gazed up into his eyes. "I'm not going to forget something as important as a date with you." She saw relief flood his face. OMG! He's afraid I'd forget. How sweet is that?

He brightened immediately. "Really? Well, I knew you had a lot on your mind...I mean with the sheriff and all." He shrugged. "So, you wanna grab a burger before the movie?"

She let go of the locker door and hugged him. Right there, in the middle of the hall with all the other kids watching, she hugged him. "Yes, I would love to grab a burger. That would be...awesome."

He walked with her to her cla.s.s, the way he usually did, with his hand resting on the back of her neck. When they reached the doorway, he handed her books over and gave a wink. A wink that said, everything's okay and yes, you're normal.

She walked into the cla.s.sroom and took her seat without meeting anyone's gaze. She didn't want to acknowledge any cla.s.smate who might give her a look that said, 'no, you're not normal.'

She opened her book bag and took out her homework. Not going to look up, no matter what.

Then a folded up piece of paper landed in the middle of her a.s.signment. She sucked in a deep breath, not wanting to open the note. Not wanting anything to turn this day to anything less than normal.

Reluctantly her fingers reached for the tightly folded cube of notebook paper. She squared her shoulders and blew out the breath she had been holding and read the note.

Since you made Lindy Boyd disappear my life has been heaven. TYTYTYTY Mercy crumpled the note and glanced around. No one was looking at her in particular. She turned around in her seat and checked out the back of the cla.s.sroom. There! One kid she didn't know was gazing at her with a half-smile. He was small for his age, with a thick mop of dark hair and gla.s.ses that dwarfed his face. She had no idea what his name was. He gave her a surrept.i.tious wave.

Oh, no! He knows! What shall I do?

She gave him a faint smile and, with a little shake of her head, shrugged her shoulders. I hope he gets the idea that I know nothing about the disappearances. Absolutely nothing...I hope...

After the cla.s.s, Felicity fell in with her as she made her way to her next cla.s.s. "Are you excited?"

"Excited?"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "You have to be over the moon about your date with Greg tonight. What are you going to wear?"

"Um, yeah. I'm excited...I don't know what to wear. Any ideas?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. You should be casual, like it's not a big deal. Just wear something that makes you look hot."

Mercy had to laugh at that. "I'm not sure I have anything that makes me look hot. I'll probably just wear my best jeans and a top."

"That could be hot." Felicity gave her a little shoulder b.u.mp. "Toodles. See ya' at lunch." She veered off to her own cla.s.s.

"Bye," she said and turned to wave. The guy who wrote the note was trailing along after her. She almost stumbled, but caught herself.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Donald. You probably never noticed me, but I had to say thanks."

"Um...Hi, Donald." A sudden case of the creepy-crawlies skittered over her skin and she shivered. "Look," she said. "I don't know what you're talking about. I had nothing to do with Lindy and the others disappearing."

He looked disappointed. "Are you sure? Because I hear people talking and..."

"Yes," she said firmly. "I'm positive."

"Oh...I was hoping it was you, because Lindy is so mean. She makes me miserable. I was hoping you would never let her come back."

"Sorry, Donald. I had nothing to do with it." She turned and fled to her cla.s.sroom, wondering what hateful things Lindy had been doing to Donald. But, then again...maybe she really didn't want to know.

When she arrived home after cla.s.ses were over, Kelli and Felicity wished her a good time with Greg. She thanked them and ran inside the house as though pursued by a squad of demons.

She tried to sort out the conflicting thoughts and emotions plaguing her brain.

Happy. I should be happy. And excited. I have a date with Greg.

But the image of a donkey, a goose and a chicken burned in her memory. What can I do? I have to find a way.

She went to the mirror and placed her fingers against the cool gla.s.s. "Gran? Are you there?" She stared at her own reflection anxiously, but there was no warm response...no glimmer on the other side. She sighed and turned away.

Apparently she was on her own...and expected to carry on as though everything was normal...She let out an indelicate snort. Yeah, like I'm supposed to even remember what normal is?

Mercy ran outside to gather the eggs, taking the recovered egg bowl with her. She glanced at her grandmother's garden, which seemed to be thriving in her absence. But was she really absent? Alistair seemed to feel her presence although Mercy felt alone and abandoned...Even if I have a cat to protect me. Hah!

She went inside to change her clothes and brush her hair. She thought the blue knit top looked okay and it matched her eyes. Nothing special, but she hoped Greg would like it. She paced around aimlessly as she waited for Greg.

Normal. I have to be normal tonight. I have to pretend that I'm just a normal teen-ager who is NOT a witch and that I'm on a normal date with the awesomest boy and I'm not worried about a donkey or a goose or a chicken. She took several deep breaths. Yeah, that's it. I'm normal.

When she heard Greg's tires crunch on the gravel driveway, she grabbed her house key and stepped outside. Then she remembered to flip on a light inside the house. Don't want to leave Gran in the dark. She could see his grin from where she stood on the doorstep. He started to get out, but she went to meet him and put her hand on the pa.s.senger side door.

"You're right on time," she said and swung the door wide.

He settled back behind the wheel and closed his door. "I didn't want to keep you waiting." He grinned and turned the key in the ignition.